I haven't jumped into the SUV oil quagmire because I didn't have anything smarter to say than number6 (who had a lot of smart things to say).

Bitt, as usual, puts it better than I could on a few of the things that bother me more directly about SUVs:

* handle very poorly as compared to the cars that people are ``trained'' to drive

And would continue to handle poorly if people were trained to drive SUVs

* the physics (mostly center of gravity and momentum related issues)involved in accidents means that in an accident, injuries are likely to be more common and more severe for all parties in said accident
* the fact that bumpers on SUVs are closer to being at car-seated head level than at car bumper level means that the severity of injuries for those in the car in a car v. SUV accident are likely to be greater, and

Yeah, "My Hummer is safer" ...safer for whom??

* their physical size means that they obscure traffic to those behind them, making it nearly impossible to predict shifts in traffic flow

Ugh. Leading to the "can't-beat-em-join-em" SUV debacle.

Three-four years ago I watched a Suburban crumple a Hyundai in a supermarket parking lot. The diminutive Suburban driver popped her kid in a car seat, got in, checked all her mirrors, put it in reverse, then backed into the Hyundai that had become trapped front and back in that lane and that she couldn't manage to see in her mirrors. About 5-6 cars including the Hyundai honked and honked as the collision unfolded. To no avail. Funny. Sad.

I see the new ad for a bright yellow Hummer being driven through the city by slender, young, freckled redhead. She is just so blissed out. Me? I wanna know who I can strangle.